New Orleans Pelicans 2024-25 season preview: One move away from being major threat in West

The 2024-25 NBA season is here! We’re breaking down the biggest questions, best- and worst-case scenarios, and fantasy outlooks for all 30 teams. Enjoy!

NEW ORLEANS PELICANS

2023-24 finish

Offseason moves

• Additions: Dejounte Murray, Javonte Green, Daniel Theis, Yves Missi, Antonio Reeves, Karlo Matković

• Subtractions: Jonas Valančiūnas, Larry Nance Jr., Dyson Daniels, Naji Marshall, Cody Zeller, E.J. Liddell

• Complete roster

The Big Question: Can the Pelicans make the roster make sense?

Zion Williamson, Brandon Ingram and Dejounte Murray have all made All-Star teams. CJ McCollum is one of the best players of the past decade not to make an All-Star team. Herb Jones and Trey Murphy III are two of the game’s best 3-and-D wing prospects.

The Pelicans should be awesome. They will not be championship contenders as currently constituted.

Why? Well, for starters, they do not have a true center. They let Jonas Valančiūnas walk in a sign-and-trade deal for a top-50 protected second-round draft pick. They drafted Yves Missi, a 20-year-old project, and signed Daniel Theis, a 32-year-old journeyman. These are not options for a serious team.

Ideally, they would have traded Ingram over the summer for a center. He has been available for some time and is a free agent at season’s end. Would-be suitors are wary of paying top dollar for a player who has not won a playoff series in eight seasons, though I am higher on his ability than most. He was great in his first playoff appearance and terrible this past spring. His true value is somewhere in between.

Regardless, New Orleans has more issues than the absence of a center and the presence of a lame-duck star forward. Its rotation makes no sense. On paper, a lineup of Murray, Jones, Murphy, Ingram and Williamson could be a killer small-ball quintet. In practice, playing their best five together for any length of time puts an unwelcome onus on Williamson, whose injuries have slowed a potentially historic rise.

McCollum could be an electric sixth man. He has the game for instant offense. But he has indicated to reporters, “I’m not going to volunteer [for the bench], but if that’s what the coach wants to do, that’s what he wants to do.” And they are paying him to be a starter. Except, Murphy, who is still waiting on his rookie-scale contract extension, is better and also wants to start. One of them is going to be unhappy.

There is a world where Murray and Williamson are amazing as a pick-and-roll tandem, where Jones and Murphy space the floor for them, and where McCollum — the 33-year-old president of the NBA’s players’ association — enjoys his role as a reserve. What a wonderful world that would be, if only it had a center.

Only there are few options available. Clint Capela is not the answer. They have surely kicked the tires on Jarrett Allen. A trade with the Cleveland Cavaliers makes sense. Nicolas Claxton would be a nice fit, but why would the Brooklyn Nets want to pay Ingram at the start of their rebuilding process? Look around the league. Now that Karl-Anthony Towns is in New York, the list of available (quality) centers is slim.

Theis once started for a Boston Celtics team that made the conference finals. He could turn back the clock. Or Missi could develop faster than anticipated. More likely, if the Pelicans sense they could cause some damage in the playoffs for the first time in their history, they will shop a little harder, and they have the draft capital to do it. They own all of their own first-round draft picks, plus the rights to a few more. Stand pat, and we have our answer: The Pelicans do not even consider themselves serious contenders.

Best-case scenario

Williamson is a superstar. And healthy. Nothing matters if not for that. Murray emerges from the shadow of Trae Young and resumes the production he enjoyed on the San Antonio Spurs. Either Jones or Murphy or both border on stardom, or at least become stars in their roles. Everything falls into place. McCollum moves to the bench. Ingram fetches a rim protector, and the Pelicans are not just fighting for their first playoff series victory since 2018; they threaten to make the conference finals for the first time … ever.

If everything falls apart

Williamson has never finished a season healthy, and this one is no different. They keep Ingram, and he walks, or they trade him for nothing. McCollum slows Murphy’s development, and team chemistry frays. Jones is the 34% shooter he was for the first two seasons of his career and not the 42% shooter he was last season. Missi is a miss. Theis is, too. And the Pelicans are right back in the play-in tournament mix, a tier or two below the Western Conference’s elite, and they have learned nothing from another season.

Fantasy spin

The Pelicans are loaded with fantasy potential, but Murray’s arrival mucks up the usage of ball-dominant players like Williamson, McCollum and Ingram. Speaking of Ingram, an extension isn’t likely and it’ll be challenging for the Pelicans to trade BI’s expiring $36 million expiring contract. Ingram going in the sixth round of drafts is decent value to start the season since Murphy is out a few weeks with a hamstring injury.

One of the more underrated selections near pick 100 is stocks specialist, Herb Jones, who also made strides in improving his efficiency across the board last year, shooting 50% from the field, 42% from 3 and 87% from the line. He’s a value pick. My sleeper center, Karlo Matković, is behind Daniel Theis and Yves Missi on the depth chart. I think Matković provides the necessary athleticism, floor spacing and defense that New Orleans needs long-term. Just remember the name even if he isn’t worth drafting at the moment. — Dan Titus

2024-25 schedule

The under is a safer bet, considering what the rotation looks like to start the season and how Williamson has finished each year of his career. But I want to believe they will find their missing piece; I want to think Williamson will stay healthy for one of these years, because this team should be fun. I am taking the over.